Illinois Valley news., August 22, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Page A-9
Breaking the cycle of poverty has its barriers
Anita R. Savio
IVN Contributing Writer
Some numbers from a
recently-released report by The Ford
Family Foundation and Oregon
State University, “Oregon by the
Numbers” should not surprise
Josephine County residents.
The percentage of our residents
experiencing food insecurity, at 16.5
is second greatest among Oregon
counties.
We avoided top place only due
to Lake County, which beats us by a
mere 0.3 percent.
In child poverty, we drop
down the list to fifth highest. But
before shouting “hurray!” note that
it meanswell over a quarter of our
children, 27.3 percent, are living in
poverty. Bottom line: We are a very
poor county.
But what does it take to
break out of the cycle of poverty?
Oregon Department of Human
Services (DHS) Director of Self-
Sufficiency Programs Kim Fredlund
and Deputy Administrator of
Program Design Bill Baney said they
have been working hard over the last
few years to change the way they
engage with individuals and families
in recognition of the complexity of
poverty and the systemic barriers
encountered by the individuals and
families. There are 21 different
factors, grouped under four headings
- family stability, well-being,
education and workplace - that they
look at in order to determine what a
family’s needs are.
Fredlund added, “If we are
offering a cookie cutter model where
everybody gets the same thing,
there are people who need different
things ... it’s really about connecting
with each individual and finding
out what are the challenges they’re
having and how do we overcome
those challenges together as a team.”
Baney and Fredlund noted that, to
reflect the change in emphasis, they
have changed the title of staff from
case managers to family coaches.
The agency’s Jobs Plus
program addresses two of the factors
affecting self-sufficiency: lack of job
experience and lack of training.
“We actually work with
employers to get them a job,” said
Fredlund,” where they’re getting
paid by the employer and there’s a
six month engagement where they
work in a position and we reimburse
the employer … It’s a good deal for
the employer and it’s a good deal
for the customer because they’re
getting that work experience. And a
lot of them turn into jobs with those
companies or in that same industry.”
But serious, systemic
challenges remain. According to
Mary Wolf, director of Child Care
Resource Network of Jackson and
Josephine counties, there is not a
single, licensed child care provider
in the Illinois Valley. And even in the
county as a whole, there is a dearth
of licensed child care providers.
The experience of Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) client Miranda Clemans,
who resides in the Illinois Valley
and has a 2-year old child, is all too
common:
“I was this close to having
a stable job at Best Western as a
housekeeper. I actually worked three
days. But lack of child care made it
so I had to quit. They were either too
full or didn’t do weekends.”
Clemans further noted that
TANF would only subsidize her
child care at the rate of $2.40 an
hour.
“I would have had to pay
another $8 per hour in addition to the
$2.40 to make it worthwhile to pay
a baby-sitter. I would have ended up
just making $2 an hour.”
According to Fredlund, all 36
of Oregon’s counties are considered
“child care deserts,” based on the
discrepancy between the number of
working families with children and
the number of child care providers.
She attributes this lack primarily to
two factors: First, as the economy
has gotten better, and there are more
jobs available for people to take,
there are less people interested in
trying out the child care business.
Fredlund added she has heard
that many who are already in the
business are leaving it because they
can’t make a living wage.
Second, TANF federal funding
was reauthorized a few years ago,
and as part of that, there was an
increased licensing requirement,
so that the “friends, family and
neighbors” who would typically
provide baby-sitting services now
need to go through the training and
background check requirements to
become licensed.
Interestingly, the dearth of
child care, especially in rural areas,
is not unique to Oregon. According
to a recent Washington Post story,
42 percent of children younger than
five live in parts of the country
considered child care deserts.
Fredlund said that one of the
things being discussed at the state
level now is how to help raise child
care reimbursement rates. But
although child care monies now
come from a combination of state
and federal funds, any additional
funds would have to come from the
state alone.
Self Sufficiency Programs
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
(SNAP)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF)
JOBS Program and Family Support &
Connections
Employment Related Day Care (ERDC)
Temporary Assistance for Domestic Violence
Survivors (TA-DVS)
Refugee Program
Youth Services Program
Self-Sufficiency Programs
Average Served Per Month (2017)
All
Josephine
Illinois Valley County
SNAP
Able-bodied adults, no
children
Families
Total children & adults
906
1,761
3,119
4,946
8,241
15,879
118
318
1,044
2,809
TANF
Families
Total children & adults
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